Looks like most of these 15 are alcoholics. I think I'll make that a subcategory quickly. Turtle Fan 19:50, 7 March 2009 (UTC)
- Maybe "most" weren't alcoholics, but enough were that it made sense.
- Maybe we should make the rest "drug addicts." "Characters with Addictions" is very vague--It could hold people like me, who check their e-mail six or seven times a day; people who watch too much TV; people who love chocolate; et cetera.
- On another note, that Pablo Ramirez and the huge white guy he met in prison should be in here, shouldn't they? Turtle Fan 04:17, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
- Drugs addicts is just fine. Should we draw a distinction between legal and illegal (I'd argue no)? TR 05:49, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
- I'd say no. Different stories involve different circumstances, after all, and in some stories those circumstances are unclear. All we can be sure of in many of those cases is a physical dependency on drugs. Turtle Fan 10:49, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
- I agree that there shouldn't be a distinction between legal and illegal drug addiction. People who become addicted to legal drugs (especially painkillers) often continue their addiction through illegal use. There was some discussion about this with Pound and his doctor after he was hospitalized for burns. O'Doull also talked about it with at least one of his medics.
- That too! Turtle Fan 22:13, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
- As far as Ramirez, I'm not sure that Real is a drug. In his third use, he imagines he is a rock star playing a crowded stadium. He refers to himself as "Pablo the guitar god", a take-off on guitar hero. The first two times were D&D role-playings type experiences. Real seems to be an advanced videogame technology with the I/O being directly connected to the brain rather than via a joystick and monitor. It's more like your addicted to TV example. ML4E 20:48, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
- Yes, I've gotten that feeling from the relevant articles too. However, people seem to behave as though they've become dependent on it, and the disruptions to the social fabric are quite comparable. Given how the advanced Chinese technology of the story defies current scientific understandings and classifications, I think it would be quite natural to say that it's inappropriate to understand drugs purely as psychoactive chemicals in this case. Turtle Fan 22:13, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
- I don't dispute that some of the characters appear to be addicted to it, I just dispute that it is a drug addiction. Surely you have heard or read media commentary decrying how "kids these days are addicted to video-games and how it is sapping the moral fibre of society". Real is like that only more so. ML4E 02:17, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
- While I am concerned that video games are destroying children's work ethic and creativity, calling it an "addiction" seems to be hyperbole. In the case of Real, though, it looks like that can be taken literally, as you say. Therefore it would be appropriate to include Pablo and Co in this category as it is now. If we decide to move junkies like Goering and Bell to a "Drug Addicts" category, we could leave them here easily enough. Turtle Fan 02:39, 10 March 2009 (UTC)